The first thing to notice about the rejection letter is how it includes their talking-points defending the program, highlighting their "strict controls to ensure that no U.S. person is targeted".
The second thing to notice is that this is a form letter sent to everyone who FOIAed their phone number. But I ask for metadata associated with my IMEI, not my phone number. It's a lesser known bit of metadata that was highlighted in Snowden's Verizon warrant. Obviously, they barely read my request.
Lastly, the denial is due to concerns over "national security". This is nonsense, of course. As the marketing points at the top demonstrate, their bigger concern is what citizens think about the program, not what the adversaries know about it.
